Hmmm: McChrystal to retire

AllahpunditPosted at 7:33 pm on June 28, 2010

No surprise. They weren’t going to give him another high-profile command so there’s really nothing left to do but quit and write a memoir. Which, thanks to the “Rolling Stone” clusterfark and the tantalizing promise of more candid criticism of Obama, is now guaranteed to make a boatload of money.

Possible title: “Going Rogue”?

Army spokesman Col. Tom Collins tells Fox News that McChrystal has informed the office that handles retirements for the Army, which is the General Officer Management Office, that he intends to retire.

The Army has not received McChrystal’s official paperwork. In that, he will include a date by which he would like to retire. Then he will go through a formal process leading to retirement…

The Army has been McChrystal’s only career.

McChrystal was promoted to the selective and coveted rank of four-star general last year. It is not clear whether McChrystal will be able to retain that rank in retirement. Under Army rules, generals need to serve three years as a four-star officer to retain that rank, with its prestige and retirement benefits.

Between his stellar military record and his global fame as a critic of the administration (or, more precisely, a man who supervised critics of the administration), it’s a no-brainer that he’d land at Fox News as a celebrity pundit if not for one thing: Er, he’s a liberal who hates Fox News. The other cable news nets are possibilities, but I wonder if the Dems won’t try to rope him into running for office somewhere. As strange as that might sound at the moment, he’s young-ish (55), has fantastic name recognition, and would instantly out-Webb Jim Webb as a lefty-warrior icon. Even the big strike against him — being fired by Obama — could be easily undone by having The One campaign for him and declare that the rift is healed. His campaign slogan writes itself: “Stan McChrystal — He’s killed more bad guys than any American alive.” Which, per his special-ops exploits in Afghanistan and Iraq, might very well be true.

2012 may be too soon since he’s bound to want to write a book first, but 2014? Hmmmm.